Brighter Days Ahead

I'll tell you how the sun rose
a ribbon at a time.
~Emily Dickinson

Isn’t it good to know that day always follows night? That winter’s icy blasts always give way to the freshness of spring? Joy comes after sorrow. You’ve come a long way on your heart healing journey from breaking up to brighter days ahead.

In the darkness you were releasing—grieving losses, healing emotional pain, and discovering the power of forgiveness as you learned to experience God’s love in deeper ways.

In the dawn you were renewing—learning to wait well, awakening hope and restoring your confidence and self esteem, knowing that you really are worth being loved well.

Now it is day, and you are rebuilding—waking up to the rest of your life, finding purpose and vision, and learning to make healthier choices in relationships next time.

Healing is coming and bit by bit, you’re not so affected by the breakup anymore. Even the shape of your life is changing. The physician-poet Oliver Wendell Holmes once said, “The mind, once expanded to the dimension s of larger ideas, never returns to its original size.” I believe the same is true of love. The heart, once expanded to encompass the breadth of love, is never the same again.

You have changed. And, like re-growth comes after a forest fire, restoration comes after a breakup too. Ruin can be restored. Your past will always be a part of who you are; history happened. But as you walk forward by faith, you discover new companions, like inner strength and unexpected joy. Hope arises. Things start to get better.

Surprisingly, the human heart is quite flexible and resilient; it has the ability to bounce back from difficulties. But you’re really not bouncing “back,” you’re bouncing forward—from darkness to light, deadness to life, brokenness to greater wholeness, fear to courage, and so much more.

God is all about transformation. “I will guide you,” He says Isaiah 42:16, “I will turn darkness into light before you and make the rough places smooth.”

It’s time to live in the light.


Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love,
that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.
Psalm 90:14

What Path Will You Choose?

So the new year is only a few days away. You may still be reeling from your Christmas sugar hangover. You may be back at work. Either way it's coming: 2011. What will you do with it?

Do you want things to be different? Do you long for significant changes in your life? I do. On one hand I am supremely happy for my friends and their blessings. One close friend just heard news that her adoption is coming through. After years of longing, fulfillment. Another friend in a warm state has a fantastic boyfriend who loves and cares for her in ways that are startlingly kind. I am amazed. She is almost engaged.

To be sure, I am not bemoaning my own life. I am thankful to have published two books, with a third on the way. They have boyfriends or babies, I "birth" books.

I guess all this end of year stuff has me thinking. I am grateful for what I have, but what do I want to change in my life? How can I actually get there?

If I have been following a certain path, how can I get on the one that leads to lifetime love? Maybe that's what all this mulling is about. We have career goals and weight goals and all sorts of goals. What about love goals? Weird, perhaps. But maybe necessary if the trajectory of life is to ever change.

I want to "live a life of love." You know, be kind to others, help people, give them grace when they mess up, really listen, and truly care. But I also want to receive love...give and receive...like a good volley in tennis--back and forth so both players are satisfied.

Hmmmm. My prayer for this new year, 2011 and beyond is that you would walk forward on the path that makes your heart soar. Take a step, take the hand of the One who loves you most, Jesus Christ. Ask Him to lead you into all He has for you in this life...and not to miss it.

I plan to.

I don't want to miss love...of all kinds.